


The Hogsmeade Heist

by pineappleyogurt (musicforlife101)



Series: Marauders Era Wolfstar Headcanon [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Hogsmeade, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Little bit of angst, M/M, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Mild Hurt/Comfort, Mostly Gen, Pre-Canon, Pre-James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Sirius Black/Remus Lupin, Sweet, The Marauder's Map, Walburga Black's A+ Parenting, not graphic, pre-animagus nicknames, very mild
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-01-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:13:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22316143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musicforlife101/pseuds/pineappleyogurt
Summary: Remus and Sirius are the only Marauders without permission to go to Hogsmeade. But they've got a whole castle to explore and a barely begun map instead. Which might actually be the solution to their problems.Featuring: mentions of Walburga Black being horrible (not graphic), marauding about on the third floor, and Minerva McGonagall being the unsung hero of the Marauders' lives.Or: How they found the One-eyed Witch Passage.***Fits with my canon compliant Marauders Era Wolfstar headcanon. Between parts one and two of Furry Little Reveals.Can be read as a standalone.
Relationships: Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Series: Marauders Era Wolfstar Headcanon [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1369162
Comments: 5
Kudos: 126





	The Hogsmeade Heist

**Author's Note:**

> I got the idea for this sort of from something Remus does in POA, when he is suspicious of Harry's excuse that Ron and Hermione brought him butterbeer because he doesn't have permission to go to Hogsmeade. Then I wondered how they found the one-eyed witch passage in the first place. So, maybe Remus also snuck out to his first Hogsmeade weekend by the same passage Harry did. And this fic was born! It's been half done in my docs for ages, but I've just got the muse wrangled enough to finish it.
> 
> This falls in between parts 1 and 2 of Furry Little Reveals, right at the beginning of third year.

_ September 1973 _

Sirius gripped the handle of his trunk tightly and made a sharp turn away from his family. He'd just seen Remus a ways down the platform and James and his parents were just past him. Orion called after him in his usual booming voice, but Sirius kept moving, weaving through the crowd with ease. He emerged from the press of bodies just a foot from Remus, who watched him with an expression of fond bemusement. It was his usual face when Sirius did something barmy. That look lit a fire in Sirius's chest every time. And that fire was more of a toasty hearth than a candle given just how often he found it aimed at him. It reminded him that Remus still cared, was still his closest mate, even though Sirius was on track to lose his mind just like the rest of the nutters who'd come before him.

"Heya Rem," Sirius said, putting some extra chipper in his voice. It was starting to crack and drop sporadically, but it hadn't made him too self-conscious yet.

"Hi Siri," Remus replied. "Um, you've met my mum." He gestured to where she stood beside him, and it was just like him to be making polite introductions.

"Hi again Mrs. Lupin. It's nice to see you."

"And you, Sirius. I trust you had a pleasant summer?"

He shrugged. "I'm excited to go back to Hogwarts." He never said a word to parents or teachers about his home life. He'd barely told the Marauders, and Remus more than the others. Especially after they'd found out about his furry little problem the previous year. Sirius had become more willing to explain, to Remus in the dark in the middle of the night, when he was in a strop or depressed or scared because of his family. And Remus would listen, or maybe offer a bit of his own experience with trauma. Neither were fond of the dungeons, for one, because it reminded them of being locked in a basement for very different reasons.

"We should get on the train before someone takes our compartment and James tries to fight them before we even leave the platform," Remus said. Sirius nodded and waited beside him as Remus hugged his mother and they had a rapid fire conversation in Welsh.

He  _ loved _ hearing Remus speak Welsh. It was like his accent, only more concentrated. He wondered if the library had any books on learning Welsh, or if he could owl order one from somewhere. French had been easy enough for him to pick up, and he'd been reading Latin since his tutor introduced it at age five. Not to mention the bits of Hindi he'd picked up from James and his mother. He could learn Welsh. Then he and Remus would have a secret language. He might have to learn Hindi so James didn't feel left out.

"Ready?" Remus asked. Sirius nodded and made to follow, but Hope wrapped him in a quick hug before he could.

"Have a good term, boys, have fun," she said. Sirius smiled back at her. He really did like Remus’s mum.

"We will, Mrs. Lupin," Sirius said. He followed Remus up to the door, stepping onto the train and going to pull his trunk up after him. A jolt of intense pain shot up his arm from his wrist and he dropped the handle like it was on fire.

"What's wrong, Siri?" Remus asked, voice low with concern.

"I just — I hurt my wrist. I forgot and tried to lift my trunk with it." He switched to his off hand and tried again, but this time Remus reached down to help.

"You're going to tell me what she did to your wrist, right?" Sirius only shrugged. "Please, Siri."

"Fine, but not now. We have more important problems."

"Alright, come on then. James is about to head this way, we should get to the compartment."

They reached their compartment near the back of the train before anyone else could try to claim it. Remus took Sirius's trunk without a word and shoved it up on the luggage rack. Sirius tried to help with his non-dominant hand, but he knew Remus was doing all the work. Only a moment later, James shouldered his way through the door. Remus dropped into the seat beside Sirius to get out of his way so he could put his trunk up.

"Alright mate?" James greeted.

"Eh," Remus replied. "We've got problems, but how was your summer?"

"Brilliant! Wish you all could've come to stay, but still great." He dropped into the seat across from Sirius beside the window. Peter joined them a couple minutes later with a new haircut that he said was popular with muggles on the continent. Sirius thought whoever told him that was probably having him on, but he didn't say anything. "Okay, we're all here, what's the problem?" James asked.

"D'you wanna go first, Siri?" Remus asked. Sirius shook his head. "Okay then, we all know my dad is overprotective to the extreme." Nods all round. "He won't sign my Hogsmeade permission slip and Mum hasn't been able to convince him."

"Merlin, Moony, mine won't either," Sirius said. "You know they're allergic to me having anything resembling fun or freedom."

"I know," Remus muttered. "Well, I can probably forge Walburga's signature for you." Remus had a fairly lucrative forgery business running out of Gryffindor tower. Love notes, parents' signatures, passes from class, permissions to use the restricted section. He forged it all, provided he had an example of the handwriting he was forging. "But my mother's signature is the only one I've never been able to forge. And I don't dare forge my dad's, even though it's easy, because McGonagall would never believe he signed it so easily or quickly."

"I could try," Sirius offered. Generally, Sirius had only two types of handwriting: his slapdash scrawl and the copperplate required of Black sons. But he'd picked up a bit of a knack for matching Remus's handwriting when helping with his assignments after fulls. He'd written two feet for McGonagall the previous winter that Remus had dictated to him because his hands hurt too much to hold a quill. McGonagall hadn't seemed to notice. So maybe Sirius could match his mother's signature too.

"I brought a copy of it. I was going to try myself, but I've been practicing for weeks and I still don't have it." Remus pulled a small piece of paper out of his bag, along with a notepad and a muggle pen. "Mum can't stand writing with a quill. She'd sign it in biro, for sure."

"This is what muggles write with?" Sirius asked, genuinely curious. "How's it work?"

Remus carefully pulled it apart. "The ink is inside that tube, and it comes out of the end by gravity. The ball on the end, do you see it?" Sirius nodded. "It rolls across the page as you move the pen and guides the ink onto the page. You never have to dip it, so it's a lot quicker to write, though not as pretty."

"Is this what most muggles write with?" Sirius asked.

"This or pencil. They're cheap and easy. But you have to get a new one when it runs out. Some people like to use fountain pens, though. I think you'd like them. They're like a quill but made of metal and hold ink inside. But the way they write is the same." He paused to gather his words. "It's like a self-inking quill. Or if your quill could hold a week's worth of ink after one dip. And when they run out you just fill them up again instead of buying a new one."

"That's so cool," Peter squeaked.

"I want one," Sirius said. "But I'll practice with this first." He took the notebook, pen, and example and started to get a feel for it. He twisted his hand on the final curve of his third attempt and let out a strangled cry. "Argh, damn it!"

Remus tried to take the pen from him. "Maybe you should try after Madam Pomfrey mends your wrist."

Sirius glared ineffectually at him. "I almost had it." Remus looked down at the page. It was true. Sirius was already closer than any of Remus's attempts, but he'd probably need more wrist mobility.

"What happened to your wrist, Sirius?" James asked.

"Nothing," Sirius grumbled. Remus elbowed him, meeting Sirius's answering frown with an expectant look. "Fine, Walburga happened to it. Happy?"

"Not particularly," Remus said.

James gaped at him. "She broke your wrist?"

Sirius shrugged. "It's not the first time. She just didn't set it afterward." Remus winced and Peter paled at just the thought.

"I'll kill her," James growled.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Don't bother. The Blacks are famously short-lived for a wizarding family. It's all that inbreeding, the idiots." Remus reached out and took Sirius's hand, rubbing the back of it with his thumb to calm him. "Thanks Rem," he whispered.

Remus nodded. “I’ll forge her signature on your permission slip once we’re back at Hogwarts.”

* * *

Remus and Sirius missed their first morning of lessons. Sirius found himself forcibly dragged out of breakfast and off to the Hospital Wing, struggling to get out of Remus’s grasp, protesting that he didn’t need to go, as he had the previous day while they were unpacking. Once he was sitting in a bed and Madam Pomfrey was tutting about rebreaking his wrist to mend it properly, though, he wouldn’t let go of Remus with his good hand. And Remus had no intention of going anywhere. As someone who broke and rebroke all his bones once a month, he knew it would hurt and didn’t intend to leave Sirius to suffer alone.

“I’m very sorry, Sirius,” Madam Pomfrey said, laying a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Don’t watch. You just hang onto Remus and it’ll be over soon.” Sirius gave a jerky nod and gripped Remus’s hand tighter. Pomfrey’s wand tip touched his wrist, cool and smooth for a moment, then Sirius was screaming in pain so viciously no sound came out at all. He tried desperately not to claw at Remus’s skin. Madam Pomfrey efficiently snapped the bones back into place and Siriuis’s scream petered out into whimpers. A quick charm later and the bones were mostly mended. But Sirius was still panting. “I’m so sorry, dear. I’m going to put you in a splint for the next two days, just to be sure you finish healing properly. Come see me then and if you’re fine, we’ll take it off.” She conjured a simple brace that he could take on and off to shower, then summoned a little vial from the potions cupboard. “Take a pain potion before you head off to your other lessons. I’ll write you both a pass.”

Still a little shaky and leaning against Remus, Sirius left the Hospital Wing with a pass for them both in his good hand.

“Are you sure you don’t want to go upstairs and nap instead?” Remus asked.

“No, if I miss the first day because of her, then she wins.” Remus rolled his eyes. “Besides, the pain potion is starting to kick in. I’m feeling a little better.”

“Okay, but if you need to, I’ll walk you back upstairs.”

“Thanks, Moony.” Remus smiled at the nickname he’d been given the year before. They didn’t all use it frequently, but Sirius always seemed to say it in such a soft, sincere way. It made Remus feel all mushy.

“You do the same for me, Siri. Literally every month.”

Sirius shrugged. “That’s what best friends are for.”

Remus pulled him into a sideways hug as they walked down the charms corridor. At least they’d missed Potions.

That night after dinner, Remus copied Walburga’s signature a few times with Sirius’s nicest quill. Then he signed her name to the permission slip. Though he’d watched Remus forge dozens of notes and signatures over the previous year, Sirius still stared in awe as his mother’s perfectly flourished name flowed from Remus’s fingers.

“Thank you, Moony,” Sirius said. “I’ll do yours once I get my splint off.”

“Don’t worry, Siri, I know you’ll do your best.”

And he did. Two nights later, splint off and mobility fully returned to his wrist, Sirius practiced Hope’s signature over and over until it was perfect. When even Remus couldn’t see the differences, and he could consistently create the same signature, Sirius signed Remus’s slip.

* * *

The first Hogsmeade weekend of the year fell just after the new moon at the end of September. Third years shifted excitedly through the Entrance Hall to hand McGonagall their permission slips, chattering about all the places they wanted to visit and imparting advice given by older siblings. James and Peter handed in their slips without any trouble. McGonagall waved them off, though they waited for Sirius and Remus just past her. She eyed the other two warily. When they both presented signed permission slips, her eyes narrowed.

“These have been forged,” she said, frowning. Sirius, James, and Peter all started protesting loudly. Remus just sighed. “I had been wondering who was passing possibly forged notes.”

“If you’re going to blame someone, blame me,” Sirius said.

McGonagall looked like she really wanted to roll her eyes. “Mr. Black, your handwriting is far too illegible to be a forger. I'll hold onto these, neither of you will be going to Hogsmeade this weekend. Two nights of detention with me for the forged notes. Run along now.”

They stepped to the side. “Go on without us,” Remus said. “We’ll be fine.”

James frowned at them. “We’ll bring you back some chocolate.” Then he tugged Peter away. Remus gripped the sleeve of Sirius’s shirt and pulled him back toward the marble staircase.

“I’m sorry, Moony.”

“It’s alright, Siri. We knew there was a chance it wouldn’t work.”

Sirius shrugged. “Yeah, but I’m still sorry that your furry little problem took this from you too.”

“It didn’t. My dad being overprotective did.”

“Maybe we could wait a while and try the passage under the willow? It leads to Hogsmeade.”

Remus shook his head. “No, I don’t want to be seen coming out of the Shack. Besides, I don’t even know how to get out of it, I’ve never tried. Well, not when I’m...”

“Oh, right. Sorry.” Remus wrapped an arm around Sirius’s shoulders. He seemed much more disappointed on Remus’s behalf than Remus was. “Maybe we could just hang out, then? You and me? Do some proper marauding around the castle without the other two?”

“That sounds brilliant, Siri. What should we do? Plan a prank?”

They were walking up the stairs now, being given a wide berth by most other students. James and Sirius together were widely regarded as the most dangerous to the school at large without Remus to temper them. Which was true in regards to the likelihood of something spontaneously exploding, but was very untrue in the case of a well plotted prank. Remus and Sirius were actually more dangerous because they were more devious together. But most people didn’t know that. What they did know was that insults, pranks, or threats toward Remus, especially when James and Peter were absent, were likely to unleash Psycho Sirius, who frightened the average student more than the Bloody Baron ever did. Remus was secretly pleased that his best friend was so protective, but he worried about what that instinct made Sirius think about his own mental health.

It did make Remus feel safe enough to walk around with his arm around Sirius, though, knowing no one would dare comment for fear of being on the receiving end of one of Sirius’s strong and creative jinxes. He’d modified the biting jinx to make people feel as though they were being savagely bitten by nothing, without any real harm being done. His bat-bogey hex was admirably strong. He also had a fondness for the melafors jinx, which encased the target’s head in a pumpkin, the tongue locking jinx, the finger-removing jinx, and the ducklifors jinx, which turned people into ducks. He argued that most people were more agreeable as ducks. Unlike the pullus jinx, which transformed the target into a goose, because geese were even less agreeable than Slytherins.

“Well, we started trying to map the castle last year, maybe we could work on that,” Remus suggested. “Maybe we’ll find a hidden room or something. We already know there’s at least one secret passage and a few hidden staircases. There must be more.”

Sirius grinned. “That’s perfect! Let’s go grab some parchment and that nice self-inking quill you got. Where should we start?”

Remus smiled to see Sirius so excited by their substitute plan. “Maybe the third floor? By that stairwell no one uses that we found last term.” Sirius nodded and pulled him faster up the stairs.

Within a half hour, they were on the mostly deserted third floor corridor, near the entirely deserted staircase they’d found at the end of the previous year. It was a relatively boring corridor, but as they had discovered, even the most bland of places in Hogwarts often had secrets. Sirius double checked the measurements of the corridor for the map while Remus trailed a hand across the wall.

“Hey Siri,” Remus called. “Are the rooms in this section a little shorter than you would expect?” There was one classroom on this particular passage, 3C, and a storeroom. The classroom was large, with measurements painstakingly taken the previous term, and the storeroom was small, ending several feet before the wall of the classroom. None of the external architecture would account for the gap.

“Yeah, actually,” Sirius said. He held up the map and they looked at the long wall of the passage. “It’s like there used to be a broom cupboard behind that statue or something. Seems about that size.”

Remus nodded in agreement and stepped forward. He pressed a hand to the statue’s humpback. Then he tried to shift it. No luck, not that he expected any. Then he pressed his hand to the wall behind the statue. It felt different than what he was expecting, but he couldn’t explain how. Sirius mirrored him and a perfect little frown etched itself between his brows, confirming it wasn’t just Remus. After a moment, Remus pulled out his wand and tapped the witch’s statue.

“Weird,” he said. “You know how you can kind of tell what a classroom used to be used for.” Sirius nodded. They’d both felt the weird residual magic from a century old charms classroom and Sirius understood the feeling he meant. “It kind of feels like that. Like there’s magic on the statue.”

Sirius pulled out his wand and touched the tip to the statue. “ _ Revelio _ ,” he said. A fuzzy image of the statue’s hump opening up floated before them like a hazy afterimage of a ghost. “Okay, it opens. Secret door?”

“Seems like it. Maybe you have to tap it on a certain spot?”

For several long minutes, they both tried tapping the statue and the wall behind it everywhere with their wands. It was lucky it was a Hogsmeade weekend and the castle was mostly deserted. Especially since it was a nice day and the rest of the student body was down by the lake.

“Maybe there’s a password?” Sirius suggested. “We could try that password revealing spell we used to get in the Slytherin common room last year.”

“Oh, good idea.” He rapped his wand on the witch’s hump. “ _ Signum revelio _ ,” he said.

A high, airy whisper of, “ _ Dissendium _ ,” responded.

“Wicked, Moony!” Sirius cried, grinning his head off. He tapped the statue with his wand again. “Dissendium,” he said clearly.

The hump opened and they both peered in. There was a stone slide, taller than Sirius, with stone steps carved into the far side, and a passage beyond that, which filled the missing space between the rooms. Sirius clambered up into the opening and slid down, moving to make room for Remus at the bottom. Once they were both in, the hump closed behind them. Remus cast a quick lumos and Sirius pulled the parchment and quill from his pocket.

“We’ve gotta mark where this goes,” Sirius said. “It’s amazing! A whole secret passage, Moony! James and Peter are gonna be so jealous. But we found it on our own, me and you.”

“Me and you, Siri,” Remus agreed. Sirius had a thing for having things he shared with just one other person. Most people assumed all of those things were with James, but that wasn’t true at all. He actually had a lot of special things with just Remus. Their musical tastes and tendency to lay all over each other being the most obvious. He and Peter had fewer specific things in common, but they both loved games, so they were often the ones playing chess or Exploding Snap in the dorm. Having a special thing with Sirius wasn’t uncommon, but it always made the recipient feel good. Special. So Remus was quite happy with the turn of events, even if they weren’t going to Hogsmeade.

“Which direction do you think we’re walking?” Sirius asked. He’d sketched the passage in the direction it went away from the main corridor. The tunnel angled down, along with a set of steps carved into the side to take them further down. Remus assumed they were underground now.

“I think it’s vaguely parallel to the passage under the willow,” Remus said. His inner sense of direction was best. Sirius’s was good, but he needed landmarks. And the tunnel seemed to twist at irregular intervals.

Half an hour later, Sirius was no longer sketching. He marked the distance every ten paces or so or whenever it turned again, but he had run out of parchment and they couldn’t see the end of the tunnel yet. Twenty minutes after that, they were both getting anxious.

“This has to go to Hogsmeade,” Remus said. “It’s longer than the passage from the willow, but that’s closer to the village. And it’s going the same direction.”

“That’d be cool,” Sirius said. “Then it doesn’t matter that we don’t have permission, we can go anyway.”

“I guess,” Remus said. He wasn’t sure the level of trouble they’d be in if they were caught. Detention he didn’t mind. Points taken he could live with. Suspension or expulsion were off the table.

Slowly, the tunnel began to rise. Then they reached a tall staircase up into the darkness above. Sirius gestured for Remus to go first, which he did. He didn’t bother to count the steps, Sirius probably was, not that it mattered. This was way out of the boundaries they’d set for the map. After forever on the stairs, Remus nearly hit his head on a wooden trapdoor. Sirius came up behind him, peering around to see the door in the wandlight. They listened carefully. No noise from above, so Remus pushed up on the trapdoor. Slowly, and with a little squeak, it gave. They peered out. No one around.

“Quick, Siri,” Remus said, pushing it open and stepping out. He put his hand down to pull Sirius after him, then extinguished his wand. He replaced the trapdoor quietly, one square of dusty wood floor blending in with the rest. They were in a cellar full of wooden crates and boxes. Sirius squinted at the labels in the half light.

“Moony, I think we’re in Honeydukes. This crate is full of Bertie Botts.”

“Well, I guess we made it to Hogsmeade then,” Remus said. They headed for the small wooden staircase on the other side of the cellar. As they neared, the sounds of chatter leaked through the door. They climbed the stairs toward the noise. Listening for nearby voices, Remus quietly cast  _ alohomora _ and pushed the door open a crack. When no one was paying much attention, they both slipped out and closed the door behind them.

The shop was spectacular. Full to the brim with excited students and every kind of candy imaginable. It was Remus’s heaven. Sirius grinned brightly and grabbed his hand, tugging his wide-eyed and unresisting friend toward a wall of chocolate.

“First order of business: buy Moony chocolate,” Sirius said.

Then, from somewhere behind them, a familiar voice said, “Okay, Pete, first thing is to buy Remus some chocolate. Then we pick stuff for Sirius.”

Remus and Sirius shared a grin and slipped casually behind a display until James and Peter were in front of the chocolate wall.

“So, uh, what kind should we get?” Peter asked.

“Uhm, I’m not sure. There are so many choices.”

“Does Remus like white chocolate?” Peter asked, pointing to a display of different sorts of white chocolate.

“No,” Sirius said casually. “Hates the stuff. He says it’s not real chocolate.”

Peter nodded, not realizing the voice he’d heard wasn’t supposed to be there. It was just such a common occurrence that his brain didn’t stop to register it as wrong.

“We should go with a nice, safe milk chocolate, I think, Pete,” James said.

Sirius snorted. “No,” Remus said, just as casually. “Remus really prefers fruity dark chocolates. You should’ve brought Sirius along, he knows this stuff.” For a moment, James just nodded. Then both his and Peter’s minds seemed to register it at the same time and they spun to see their friends standing barely more than a foot away, hidden by a rack of peppermint flavoured candies.

“What the hell?!” James cried. “I thought you —” He stopped himself short, then dropped his voice. “How did you get here?”

They shared a look. “We went marauding and found a secret passage that lets out in the cellar,” Remus summarized. “I do want chocolate, though, and I didn’t bring any money with me. I’ll pay you back when we get back.”

“Nah, I got this, Moony. I still have my money in my pocket,” Sirius said. He reached a hand into his trousers and jingled the coins there. “Pick your chocolate, Rem.”

Fifteen minutes later, they left Honeydukes with loaded bags of sweets to enjoy until the next Hogsmeade weekend. Chocolate for Remus, every flavour beans, some exploding bonbons for Sirius, sugar quills, and tons of other deliciousness. James and Peter had done a bit of wandering around and had already hit Zonko’s, but they went in again to let Remus and Sirius see the available options nonetheless. Then they all headed down to the Three Broomsticks to have a butterbeer before they split up to head back to the castle. Sirius paid for Remus again and wouldn’t hear of being repaid.

“Remus, you found a way to get us here, that’s payment enough,” he finally said when he set the tankard in front of his friend. “Now shut up and drink.” Remus grinned, scooting in close the way Sirius preferred when he was happy. They explained more about the passageway and gave James and Peter instructions to be their lookouts on the way back. Then, predictably, the conversation lost an entire side when James spotted Lily Evans across the pub.

“He’s been trying to catch sight of her all day,” Peter said.

“Ugh, kill me,” Remus groaned. “It somehow slipped my mind that we’d have to deal with his pathetic pining in the village too.” Sirius laughed and bumped his shoulder. James didn’t even notice being called pathetic.

“Oi, Jamie-boy, Remus called you out.”

“Huh?”

“He called you pathetic and I agree.”

“Piss off, Sirius,” James grunted distractedly. The other three snorted. “Wait, what? Remus, why am I pathetic?”

“You’re literally pining over her while you’re here with us. Is it not enough to share almost every class with her and see her at every meal and in the common room?” Remus said.

“But, maybe it’ll be different in the village,” James said.

“Why would it be different? Are you gonna act like a normal person?” Sirius asked.

“Hey, I am a normal person.”

“No, you’re deeply strange, but we love you anyway,” Sirius said.

“I kinda agree with Siri,” Peter said. “But do your own thing, James.”

“Thank you Pete, I think. Anyway, when are you two heading back?”

“Soon I think,” Remus said. “We don’t want to try and sneak into the cellar when it isn’t busy. Everyone would see us.”

“We could go distract them if necessary,” Peter offered.

Sirius nodded. “That’d be really helpful. Thanks, Pete.”

They each finished their drinks. “Okay, then we’ll meet you back at the statue and let you out when it’s all clear. Yeah?” James confirmed. Remus and Sirius nodded.

In the end, it went off without a hitch. Peter asked the proprietor questions to distract her from Remus and Sirius sneaking into her cellar, then bought a small bag of licorice wands to avoid suspicion. Remus and Sirius walked back toward the castle and it took just as long as it had felt on their way to Hogsmeade, though much less confusing. When they reached the slide at the other end, Sirius tested out the narrow stone steps carved into one side. They were more like a ladder than anything, just allowing the climber to get back to the top, where they would have to pull themselves up and clamber out on their own. He rapped his knuckles on the inside of the hump. A moment of quiet, then three quick knocks. Their all clear sign.

“Dissendium,” Sirius muttered, tapping his wand on the inside of the hump. It opened and he pulled himself out, followed quickly by Remus.

“That’s so wicked!” Peter said.

“You two did some top notch marauding on your own. We should let you off the leash more often,” James said, attempting to shoehorn both Remus’s wolf form and Sirius’s dog name into the same joke. They rolled their eyes at him, but were in fact, very pleased that they’d discovered such a useful thing as a pair.

* * *

The following week, Sirius and Remus reported to McGonagall’s office for their detentions after dinner. She set them to inventorying transfiguration supplies — matchboxes, opera glasses, teacups, and the like — without magic. They were allowed to talk, but if she felt their chat was taking precedence, she assured them she would set them at opposite ends of the supply cabinets.

It took almost no time for them to come up with a system to count and record items as a pair. One marking, the other counting by fives. Although there were a lot of different items to record, they finished half the cabinets in two hours and McGonagall told them they were allowed to leave and she would see them on Thursday for the second half. It was kind of her not to schedule it on consecutive days, but they did have early term homework to do, so that might have been why. They hadn’t done anything horribly disruptive, that she knew of, so she wasn’t looking to impact their schoolwork. Yet.

On Thursday evening, they set to work with the same system and finished the rest of the cabinets with ease. It didn’t even take them the two hours the first half had. When they were finished, McGonagall took their inventory and thanked them.

“Oh, and Mr. Black, please see me in my office after classes tomorrow. You’re not in any further trouble and it should not take longer than half an hour,” she said.

“Uhm, okay, see you then Professor.” He didn’t need another scolding for calling her Minnie just now. She nodded to both of them and they took off for the kitchens to find an evening snack to take up to the dorm.

* * *

Friday afternoon, when his classes were done, Sirius waved off his friends and headed to McGonagall’s office. She was marking review quizzes and looking somewhat surly about it when he walked in. She indicated the seat in front of her without looking up and finished marking the quiz.

“Thank you for arriving so punctually, Sirius,” she said.

“Well, don’t need another detention so early in the year,” he said.

She gave him a very disbelieving look, but didn’t comment. “I wanted to speak with you about your situation at home.” What little colour Sirius had in his face left it. “I spoke with Madam Pomfrey about your wrist. She says it was likely broken weeks before school started. It had almost healed fully when she reset it. Is that accurate?”

He shrugged. “Sounds about right.”

“I taught both of your parents, Sirius. You don’t need to tell me what she’s like. I am unfortunately very aware. Much as I may enjoy you — and I have vowed to never tell you exactly how much I do or do not enjoy your presence in my class — I wish your parents had never reproduced. They were never fit to be parents.”

“Yeah, I know,” Sirius said, bitterly. “But they birthed me, so I’m stuck with them.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, sounding genuinely apologetic. “I want you to come to me if you have troubles, rather than just bottling it up. We can meet to discuss things as much or as little as you need.” He nodded. “Have a biscuit.” She nudged a tartan biscuit tin closer to him. With a quick little smile, he took a shortbread tail from the tin and replaced the lid. “Madam Pomfrey would also be happy to help you with any injuries you find troubling when you return from break. Or any recurring issues. I don’t know how much you’ve told your roommates.”

“Just Remus, really, and only a bit. I mean, James and Peter know some stuff. But Remus gets it better. Like, it’s not the same, but he gets it.”

She nodded. “I’m certain he does. I’m very glad you’ve all become so close. I worried he would close himself off and not make friends in order to stay safe. I don’t believe he had enough to realize that friends are  _ how _ you stay safe.”

This time, Sirius smiled properly. “He knows now. He had some friends before, but now he has best friends and that’s a whole different thing.”

“I hear you’ve tried out for the open beater position,” she said, deftly changing the subject.

“Yeah, James reckons I’ll get it. Final team roster goes up tomorrow.”

“I think it would be good for you,” she said. “You’re not built like a traditional beater, but I think you’ve plenty of energy and aggression you can work out on the bludgers.” For a moment, Sirius had forgotten that McGonagall had been on the house team too, back when she was a student. She was the most quidditch-obsessed of all the heads of house. She even oversaw the student commentator. “And if any of your friends hope to comment on matches this year, do send them my way.”

“I will,” Sirius said. “And thank you for being nicer about our detentions than we deserved.” It wasn’t usual for Sirius to thank McGonagall for things. Mostly the things she was giving him were detention, so he didn’t see the need

Her gaze softened. “You and Remus broke the rules, but I am aware of your reasons. I expect to see you heading to the village with Potter and Pettigrew during the next approved weekend. I have your signed slips filed already.”

“What?” Sirius’s eyes met hers. Something almost mischievous sparkled there, tempered by a care he’d only ever seen from Mrs. Potter and Mrs. Lupin. “But we didn’t get —”

“I believe you’ll find that the signatures on your slips match your parents’ signatures perfectly,” she said, curling the last word knowingly as she spoke. “Who am I to argue with your parents’ decisions?”

“Usually the first in line,” he replied.

McGonagall chuckled. “Yes, well, I have signed permission slips filed, so you are welcome to attend all future Hogsmeade trips. Do tell Mr. Lupin when you see him.” Sirius nodded. “Have a good afternoon, Sirius.”

“You too, Professor,” he said, standing to leave. She deserved his respect, especially after this. “And Professor McGonagall,” he said, pausing in the door. “Thank you.”

Without looking up or acknowledging the very-against-the-rules thing he was thanking her for, she murmured, “You are very welcome, dear boy.”

Sirius left the office, striding out toward the sunlit grounds to find his friends and tell them the good news.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> I have two other fics in this series that are partly or wholly written, but not posted. The Wormtail Reveal and a longer fic about two weeks spent at the Potters' over the summer before sixth year. That one might be my favourite, so keep an eye out for those soon.


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